Spiderman Revisited!

So, last time, I mentioned Cris and his rooftop experience. First, you need to know a bit about Cris. He is our second child, oldest boy. For years, he was the middle child. He was a typical middle child...feeling squeezed between 2 siblings, so he was always out to prove himself, from the time he was just a tot.

I tell Cris he is responsible for me being gray haired at such an early age, and it is partly true. When he was 5, my parents came for their first visit to France. The Brussels airport was ever so much cheaper to fly into, so that is where we drove to pick them up. It is roughly a 4 hour drive from where we lived at the time. Don's bro and sis-in-law lived in a duplex with us. Carla said she would watch the kids and we went off reassured that they would be well taken care of.

After a very long day, we finally pulled into our driveway, and there was a collective gasp as we all 4 saw the most horrifying sight at the same time! There, sitting on the roof of the house, was our 5 year old son, with the hugest grin on his face! He waved to us like it was just the most natural thing in the world. We all jumped out saying, "Don't move!" He just grinned bigger and said, "Hi, Mom!'

Now to understand just what a feat this was, I will tell you the house was L shaped and part of it was 2 stories and part of it was single story. In France, there are no window screens, so he had climbed up on a chair, wrestled that window open and jumped from the window (2nd story) to the roof of the living room, which was single story.

My mama and I stood there telling him not to move while his dad and grampa tried to find someone with a ladder we could borrow. Needless to say, they got him down safe. I was startled the next morning when I went to fix my hair! There was a wide, white streak in my hair that wasn't there the day before!

It wasn't too long after that, Don came out of the kitchen and looked up to see Cris, in true Spiderman style, one arm and leg on each hall wall, had climbed to the ceiling. The problem was, he couldn't get back down. He was so proud of himself until he realized he was in a real pickle! Don wanted him to learn a lesson. He stood under him and just waited. Soon his little arms and legs started to shake. Don told him to just let go, but he was afraid to do it. Soon, he HAD to let go and Don caught him. He gave him a stern talking to about consequences...like...what would he have done if Don had not been there to catch him!

He was a very inventive little boy, and was always coming to tell us about something he was going to invent. Truthfully, he amazed us sometimes with the bright ideas he came up with. Lyndee, being the typical big sister, thought it her duty to keep him in his place. He would tell us something he wanted to invent and she would smirk and say, "Uh, Cris...it's already been invented." A heated word battle would then commence, with Lyndee egging him on with her mischievous grin!

Somehow, we all survived those days, though there were times we did wonder if Cris would, with all his exploits! I am now completely gray, and I still tell the kids they did it to me! We all laugh, but I can't help wishing we could go back to those crazy days! Time has moved on and now our oldest grandkids are almost grown. The circle of life...

Have a wonderful day! God bless you one and all!